On The Whorizon Interviews BodyByBlunts
Blog Post Written By: MelRose Michaels
BodyByBlunts (they/them/their) is a disabled, neurodivergent sex worker and activist. They were featured last year in Hustler Magazine highlighting disabled sex workers and included in GoAskAlex's sex worker calendar.
On the Whorizon sat down with BodyByBlunts to talk about life as a sex worker with a physical disability, and how sex work has impacted their relationship with their body.
BodyByBlunts: When I first started out doing sex work, it was definitely 100% a survival thing — I needed to get out of a bad situation… Trying to manage your day, especially being neurodivergent, and trying to do other jobs is not always possible, especially if you don't have access to health care or mental health care. There's certain things that you're just not going to be able to find as simplistic as somebody who wasn't neurodivergent or wasn't disabled. And what sex work offered, for me personally, was a means in which to make money without having to compromise my boundaries on my own medical needs at the time. And especially so now…
If you're not feeling well, if you're having a flare, if you ever had a migraine for a whole day, in any other type of job situation, you'd have to ask permission to take time off and hope that you have sick time — possibly lose a gig job if that's what kind of work you’re doing is gig work —and possibly strain or lose a relationship because of it, or cost you money down the way. Now, it's not to say that that won't ever happen with sex work and having obligations that you can't meet. But it allows you a gateway: Well, if this place isn't working, I'm going to try this other avenue. So you have options within the same professional set of jobs and occupations.
How do you think that it's different for folks with physical disabilities within sex work as opposed to [people with] neurodivergences or mental health issues?
BB: I'm a person who uses a mobility device to get around. I use a rollator, which is basically like a walker with wheels on it. It's got a seat and I use that, or a cane to get around — that's what I use to move around in the world…
When you're disabled, especially visibly disabled, you have to make a choice: I am going to allow my mobility devices to be in the content that I shoot or I'm going to try to hide it. And honestly, I understand both sides, there's no wrong answer to that. It's about whatever work you're trying to do, and what's going to keep you safe. And currently, in my life, it's okay for me to be out as disabled, whereas previously, it wasn't safe for me to say that kind of thing on the internet anywhere… If I walk down the street, people know I'm disabled and I don't have a choice about that thing, whereas someone who might have an invisible disorder or something that is hidden under clothing. How do you navigate that? It’s just the different layers of privilege as that works, especially in a business like we're in.
You're in a place in which you feel comfortable talking about how a mobility device impacts you and your life, and showing that in your work. How have people responded?
BB: The people who have been following my content, some of them went away, but some of them stayed and they were appreciative. And then new people who heard about me through other things were like, “Oh, I heard that you're a disabled sex worker and I'm also disabled, and I want to see other hot disabled people fucking [laughs].” I'm like, “I would, too [laughs]. Write to your local Senator.” …
When you're doing other kinds of sex work, you're so pigeonholed to a persona that you have to stick to. And if you change or shimmy one way or the other, you could lose everything very quickly. It's a very fragile ecosystem. Now all I do is filming, where it's not such a fragile ecosystem, and I have more freedom to wear things that I might like — especially doing photo shoots, actually have more creative control with something that looks more like myself in my own brain, and not necessarily trying to tailor myself to a specific demographic of people.
How has sex work impacted your relationship to your own body?
BB: Honestly, in the beginning, I was so young. I was in my teens. And when you're in your late teens or early 20s, the feelings we have about ourselves, especially being around other people that are also in that same age group, I was — I still am — super introverted. And I came from having three friends in high school… I didn't really know what to make of how my body was changing at that point. I didn't know enough about myself to really take the pictures I wanted to take, or film the way I wanted to film, or cam the way I really wanted to, because I was so concerned about hiding aspects of my body that I thought other people wouldn't like. Not that I didn't like, but I wanted to make this a situation like, “Oh, I'm gonna hide this here and hide that there,” and, “Oh, no, what if they realize this boob is bigger than that boob?” … As I got older, and continued doing more work on myself and self inventory, I realised that I didn't give a fuck about it anymore. I was like, “I have a hot body. I don't know why I'm hiding it for these people who barely entertain it anyway!”
Some parts of the above interview have been condensed or edited for clarity. To hear the full interview with BodyByBlunts, listen to On The Whorizon, Episode 9: Neurodiversity & Disability in SW.
Follow BodyByBlunts on Instagram: @BodyByBlunts and Twitter @BodyByBlunts, @BodyXBlunts. You can see their work at bodybyblunts.com
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